Any speculation on ATI and Apple?

[Paul DeBoer]

I haven't heard any other input on this, but it's something I can't get outta my head. Apple has mainly used ATI for the past few years (I think exclusively except in the Power Mac G5's you had the option to add an nVidia card on the highest setting) - but with Apple going the Intel route, and a few months later the ATI-AMD merger was announced what will happen in the video accelerator area?

I know it's not going to make THAT big of a difference on the user end, but I set my threshold on an update to my G5 iMac about 6 months ago to include wireless N (check), Leopard (2 months away), and a design change/video card update.

There's a rumor of Ive creating a new design for the iMac, and I hope it's correct AND I hope it's around Leopard time - I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out. I got burned on my iMac purchase a little - I bought mine, and literally 2 weeks later, the first g5 iMac with front row was announced. I wouldn't use it much now, but at the time my iMac was in my bedroom and I used it to watch movies when I'd go to sleep and the remote would have been nice. So I'm planning to avoid a quick replacement on my next purchase.

Any speculation on Apple moving to nVidia? Have you (knowingly or unknowingly) set a threshold for your next Mac purchase?

[Tonio Loewald]

Rumor has it that the X2900 will be a BTO option soon.

I think Apple is agnostic viz ATI vs nVidia (the Mac Pros ship with 7300GTs by default). The bigger worry is that AMD is looking shaky.

However, I think Intel is moving towards a rethinking of CPU architecture in terms of where the computational power of the GPU belongs. It looks like Intel has been thinking about this a lot longer than AMD, and may open up a big lead here. The GMA950 has seriously hurt nVidia (AMD) and ATI in the low end of the market, and shown that Intel knows how to do this stuff. (Remember ATI's bread and butter used to be onboard video, and nVidia tried hard to compete in that market. Intel just walked in and took it away from both of them -- go to a Walmart and see how many computers have GMA945s and GMA950s now.)

[perrylonginotti]

I wonder if the Santa Rosa updates to iMac and MBP are delayed because of the 2600 Mobility.

I figure it must be pin compatible. Personally, I would like to see the NVidia 8600 used instead. I think AMD R600 based parts are not compelling.